700m hard drive and battery life questions

I am on the verge of purchasing a 700m, but I have two unresolved questions which I would like answered before doing so.

First, is the 80GB drive that comes with the 700m a 5400RPM model, as is the case with the 40 and 60GB drives, or is it a 4200RPM as listed in the specs Dell provides?

Secondly, I noticed that Dell rates the extended 8-cell battery as having 300 discharge cycles while the regular 4-cell battery has 500+ discharge cycles. Will choosing the 8-cell battery significantly impact the longevity of the 700m's power supply, or should it be comparable to using the 4-cell?

Thanks for all your help! It has truly been both interesting and educational to leaf through all the knowledge circulating throughout these forums. Kudos to the moderators for keeping it civil too.

 

If it were a 5400RPM drive, it would say. I would get the larger battery. The four cell only lasts between two, two and half hours, not very mobile. I don't know what your budget is, but if you are looking for a thin and light laptop, I would seriously consider the Fujitsu s6231. It weighs less, they are much better built than Dells and their support is better. The screen is better as well, although Dells is good too. You can configure one at Portable One, which will give you the opportunity to upgrade to a faster hard drive. Plus they come with a three year warranty standard.

http://www.laptopsinc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=S6231CTO&Category_Code=SS1

You can also pick up one on NewEgg for around $1325, but it comes with the slower hard drive and Fujitsu is picky about user upgrades. Good Luck.






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Thinkpad T41:
* 1.6Ghz Pentium M * 768Mb Memory * 40Gb Hitachi 7200RPM * Panasonic UJ-845-B DVD+RW *